Living in Tokyo

The overwhelming size and complexity of of Tokyo, combined with the unfamiliarity of the Japanese culture and language might be intimidating at first. Interesting, however, Tokyo is considered one of the safest and liveable cities in the world. Your school curriculum is just one aspect of your learning experience. Living in Tokyo is an experience of a lifetime, and below the students haver some compiled some helpfulo hints about living here.

Study Abroad in Japan

Student Services at TUJ

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HOUSING-Tips from Students

Many students chose to utilize Independent options for housing. Based on our experience in 2016, here are some tips if you are looking for a place on your own:

The top places to search for housing are

1. Airbnb - https://www.airbnb.com (you get $20 off and I get $20 credit when you use my link www.airbnb.com/c/jahy)

2. Oakhouse - http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/

3. Create Guesthouse- http://www.create-gh.jp/en/ (TUJ is located in Tokyo South Area, but Tokyo East, West, and North areas are all manageable.

At all cost, AVOID Fontana! http://www.tokyocityapartments.net (Terrible experience with them!)

Here are other resources that we were suggested to take. We don't have any experiences this these companies:

1. Sakura house - We heard the common spaces in the houses are generally dirty because there are a lot of travelers who don't care.

2. Tokyo Craigslist

3. Tokyo Sharehouse - https://tokyosharehouse.com/eng/ - We tried contacted them, but few responses from the guesthouses.

4. gaijinpot.com

5. Relocation Japan

6. http://minimini.jp/h/guesthouse/english/

Contact me, jah@temple.edu if you have a question or need help. I moved three times during the spring semester and summer time, so I have plenty of experience.

Where to start? Start with airbnb!

7 of us went with airbnb, 1 with "Create Guesthouse", and 1 with family, and 1 with dorms.

I would start with airbnb because it's trusted, easy, and there's plenty of options. The earily, the better because there will be more places available. I would ask for a discount because staying for four months is a lot of time and provides them with a lot of profit. If airbnb doesn't work out, I would move on to Oakhouse. The only issue with Oakhouse is you are not aware of all the options because vacanies are posted a month before. They update their website with new vacanies, so be sure to recheck.

Tips:

Start with selecting Tokyo, Japan as the destination, and the times of your stay to see all the options available.

If you want to live close to the campus (which will be more costly) select Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan in the destination.

Selecting Tokyo, Japan will locate all the available options in Tokyo, but be aware of the commuting distance. Some places may look farther, but may be less of a commute due to express lines on the metro.

Temple University Japan Campus Address: 2-8-12 Minamiazabu, Minato, Tokyo 106-0047

Resources from TUJ

https://www.tuj.ac.jp/ug/student-services/housing/moving-out.html

https://www.tuj.ac.jp/ug/student-services/housing/pdf/housing-info.pdf

Here are the housing that we stayed at and our opinions on them.

1. Lourdes and Jah

Airbnb- Ninja House - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9739529?s=HLn2TmW1

This airbnb has the perfect location with the most helpful host, Allison and David. It was a four minute walk to school! That's extremely impressive and convenient. It was $930 each person if two people stay. If three people stay, each person will pay around $620, which is great, but you'll have to share the same room. I would recommend this place to three girls or guys that have lived with each other before and get along well, or a couple (it will be pricy for two people).

Pros:

The best-est-est location.

Very cleans and has all the amenities that you will need. The host, Allison, will even provide things that you need.

Very helpful and understanding host, Allison.

You can see half of Mt. Fuji and Tokyo Tower from the backside stairs.

Cons:

A bit pricy for two people (but understanding based on the convenient location.)

Overall compared to dorms:

Its cheaper then the dorms if you share with at least another person. With walking four minutes to school and no curfew, it beats the dorms by 100 points.

Tips:

We were able to pay outside of airbnb, so the rent was lower for us.

2. Najah stayed at this place during the summer time: highly recommended!

Cafe Sakura Tokyo - http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/house/433

Company: Oakhouse- http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/

This is a blessed house, unfortunately it's females only, sorry guys! The rent is fair standard price for the size. What makes this house blessed is the design and the appliances in the house, it truly feels luxurious to live in.

Pros:

Awesome design!

New appliances so everything works perfectly

This is a shared house, but everything is always super clean. Super clean. The housemates are very nice.

Theres a Le Corbusier chairs in the lounge area!

This is a suburb neighborhood, so it's quiet at night. The neighborhood is even greatly designed, with path walks embellished with greenery and a pond with koi fish.

There extra storage in the basement for your luggage and stuff.

Cheap rent $730 each month. (Obviously not the cheapest since I can easily stay at other places for $600, but for the cleaning, newness, environment, conveniences, and design this is worth the cost. I could have saved $390 for the summer semester, but considering that's around a weeks paycheck, it'll choose happiness then cheapness.

Cons:

It will take you five hours total to locate the english manual for the appliances online. But once you have them, you're set for life!

Since this is a suburb neighborhood, the residences are manly families or elderly people. Mainly elderly. If you don't look Asian, 90% of the people will look at you while your in the neighborhood. There is about 3% foreigners, so you will stand out.

Overall compared to dorms:

Same commuting distance from the dorms, but less rent and you don't have a curfew! This is a share house, but you get a private room. Suprising, the is almost never a waiting time to use the shower. I only had to wait once for ten minutes!

Tip:

The company that rents this places is Oakhouse. They post room vacanies one month before the guest moves out, so email them to be on the waitlist.

You can use me as a referal, Najah Yasin and I stayed at Cake Sakura House and you will get $100 off your first months rent. I don't get anything from this because I moved out and I would no longer live in Japan.

GETTING AROUND

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Before you look at the Tokyo train map and start hyperventilating...

...rest assured, the Tokyo train system is the best in the world and easy to use. Clean, safe, and very punctual. Navigation sites like Google have made getting around even easier, even if you do not speak Japanese!

Getting Around with Google:

(created by Caleb Baldwin)